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Tim Bosma: Neighbours miss Millard's quiet mother

Police walk up a hill near the Ayr, Ont. farm of Dellen Millard earlier this month. (Mathew McCarthy / Record staff)

The home of Madeleine Burns in Kleinburg, Ont. (Kamila Hinkson / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

By Molly HayesHamilton Spectator

Sun., May 19, 2013

As life fades back to normal on Tinsmith Court in Kleinburg, neighbours of Madeleine Burns — mother of accused murderer Dellen Millard — are wondering whether their quiet neighbour is ever coming back.

Next-door-neighbour Robert Dimas said now that he's been paying attention, he's noticed her absence. Even the guy who cuts Burns's grass hasn't heard from her, but Dimas told him to keep going, even if he has to pay for it himself — he doesn't want her to think the neighbourhood's turned their back on her, even if they didn't know her all that well.

“I'm sure she's embarrassed as we all would be, wondering what the neighbours are thinking,” he said.

“But if anything we'd want to console her, reach out to her.”

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CBC News reported Sunday night that police found new remains on the Ayr, Ont. farm that belonged to Dellen Millard, but forensics investigators have not determined whether the remains are human or animal. Police have never confirmed that Tim Bosma's remains were found there.

Last weekend, the quiet cul-de-sac was flooded with police cruisers and camera crews after investigators discovered Bosma's stolen black pickup truck parked in a covered trailer in Burns's driveway.

Her 27-year-old son, Millard, has been charged with first-degree murder in relation to Bosma's disappearance. Police have said Burns is not involved in any way; neighbours say Millard rarely visited his mom's house.

Burns, who has lived at 32 Tinsmith Court for a good 10 years, has always kept to herself. Neighbours never saw much more of her than a friendly wave, but since last Sunday, they haven't seen her at all.

Dimas doesn't know where she is, but he hopes that doesn't mean he'll see a For Sale sign go up on the house anytime soon — she was a nice lady, he said.

Before the trailer showed up last Thursday, Dimas didn't even know Burns's son by name. Dellen Millard rarely visited his mother, he said.

But after the news broke of his arrest, Dimas recognized him in news photos — especially with the bright red Mohawk, as he frequently had brightly coloured hair as a kid, Dimas said.

On May 6, husband and father Tim Bosma, 32, left his Ancaster house with two men — one of whom police allege was Millard — for a test drive in a 2007 Dodge Ram 3500 pickup truck he'd been trying to sell online.

Police say Millard and his unidentified accomplice murdered Bosma that night, burning the body “beyond recognition,” and stealing his truck.

Far from Tinsmith Court, neighbours on Maple Gate Court — site of Dellen Millard's house in Etobicoke — said that police were still trickling in and out of their quiet street, just one more indication that the investigation into Bosma's death is far from over.

On Friday, a man who has done work at a house on the street for years — and did not want to be named for safety reasons — said Toronto Police forensics officers were parked at Millard's childhood home where his father, pilot Wayne Millard, had lived until his death in December.

In wake of his arrest in connection to Tim Bosma's murder, Toronto homicide detectives are now investigating whether Millard played a role in the death of his father. The cause of his death last December has never been made public.

The worker said Hamilton Police detectives had come by to pick up surveillance video from the house next door on Saturday.

Hamilton Police were expected to wrap up their forensic analysis of two locations in the Waterloo Region owned by Millard on the weekend.

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